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Excerpt from Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War

The Brigade stopped at a rest camp at Sidi Bishr, near Alexandria. The men of 24 Battalion were granted leave to Alexandria on 27 June -25 per cent of them until 11 p.m. and the remainder till 5.30 p.m. Some made for the city; others went to bathe and idle on the beaches.

Scarcely had the troops left camp when orders came for their immediate recall. Military police in Alexandria were directed to send back all 24 Battalion personnel to Sidi Bishr, while those officers who had remained in camp went off in trucks to look for their men. As they came in, gradually, by small parties, grumbling at being thus suddenly deprived of an expected pleasure, they were packed into trucks with their equipment, regardless of the company to which they belonged, and taken forthwith to Amiriya. By midnight all were not present but the occasion allowed no delay. Stragglers were left to rejoin as best they might, and the battalion set out for the lines of El Alamein.